Criminal Justice

Turning the Page on FISA

by Jon Pincus

category: Activism And Advocacy

Published December 13, 2008 @ 10:55AM PT

The coming year will present a unique opportunity for a broad-based activism campaign to restore our civil liberties and begin rolling back key pillars of the national surveillance state institutionalized by the Bush Administration and Congress over the last eight years. By first pressuring President Obama to follow through in the first 100 days on his campaign promises to uphold the rule of law and protect Americans’ rights and privacy, and then gearing up for a 50-state strategy to pressure the House and Senate to repeal the PATRIOT Act and reform FISA, we can turn the page on this shameful chapter in our country’s history.

The PATRIOT Act was passed hastily and almost-unanimously in the aftermath of 9/11, and then re-authorized in 2006, once again with bipartisan support. It gives the government huge wiretapping and other surveillance powers, including the odious “National Security Letters” which allow the government access to business and library records without a warrant.

FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was originally passed in 1978 as a reaction to Nixon-era government spying. Over the years, its safeguards have been steadily weakened.* In July 2008, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), further broadening warrantless wiretapping powers and including a “telecom immunity” clause, shielding companies that may have broken the law from accountability.

Senator Obama voted for FAA, but in response to an open letter from Get FISA Right, he restated his opposition to telecom immunity and support for the rule of law. There's a lot he could do to live up to this commitment, as The Liberty and Security coalition's Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress, EFF's What Obama Can and Should do to Stop Telecom Immunity, and ACLU's transition plan all make clear.** Will he invest the political capital to act?

More significant reform relies on Congress. The roving wiretaps and business records sections of the PATRIOT Act expire at the end of the year unless reauthorized (although many other horrible clauses remain), and Senator Reid has spoken of his desire to have a broader discussion of wiretapping in this context. Our country is facing a lot of other important problems, and so if Washington continues business as usual and the press continues to ignore this issue, there will be a temptation to sweep these issues under the rug -- unless there's an outcry.

Civil liberties supporters made significant progress in 2008: the progressive/libertarian partnership of Strange Bedfellows, the coordinated blogosphere actions in February and June/July, Get FISA Right’s social network activism campaigns, initial forays into cable TV advertising working with SaysMe.tv. Still, there’s a long way to go. As Get FISA Right's strategy-in-progress highlights, working with change.org, MySpace, and the partner organizations could make a big difference here.

So please consider voting for Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties and the similar ideas such Donovan Caesar's End the Patriot Act and Dave Warden's stop all warrantless wiretapping (in Government Reform) and Pierre Loiselle's Repeal the Patriot Act in Other.

Read more on this issue: Deborah Pierce's FISA: A brief history gives an overview and links out to more detailed discussions.

Jon Pincus is a strategist, writer, and activist living in the Seattle area, currently working on Tales from the Net (a book on social networks co-authored with Deborah Pierce and his brother Greg). As well as being an organizer for Get FISA Right, he's vice-chair for online visibility for the 2009 ACM Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference. He's blogged about Ideas for Change, as well as many other topics, at Liminal States, Pam's House Blend, and elsewhere.